Colorado

Judge: Austin Sigg must face trial in death of Jessica Ridgeway

People head into the courtroom for Austin Sigg's preliminary hearing at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Golden on Feb. 22, 2013. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post)

Austin Sigg (Provided by Jefferson County DA)

GOLDEN — Austin Sigg must face trial on 18 of 20 counts relating to the death of 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway and an attack on a jogger last year, a Jefferson County judge decided Friday.

During a preliminary hearing, Westminster police Det. Albert Stutson testified that Sigg got on the phone after his mother called to report him and said, "I murdered Jessica Ridgeway. I have proof that I did it. You should send a squad car down here. I'll answer all the questions."

Judge Stephen Munsinger decided that Sigg, 18, will face trial on all but two counts he faced in the death of Jessica and the attack on a jogger at Ketner Lake over Memorial Day weekend. Prosecutors dismissed two additional charges.

During Stutson's testimony, a tape of the phone call Sigg's mother, Mindy Sigg, made to police was played.

"My son wants to turn himself in for the Jessica Ridgeway murder. He just confessed to killing her," Mindy Sigg is heard saying. "He did it. He's turning himself in."

Then her son Austin took the phone and confessed.

Det. Michael Lynch later interviewed Mindy Sigg.

He testified that she said she came home from work and her son was lying on her bed and told her he needed to tell her something.

"I'm a monster," he told his mother.

He also said he had attacked the jogger. He said he used a red rag soaked in chloroform that he made using a recipe he had gotten off the Internet.

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Lynch's testimony of his interviews revealed that Austin Sigg grabbed Jessica when she was walking by his car. He put her in the back seat and tied her with zip ties around her arms and legs, then drove around for awhile.

Sigg took Jessica to his bedroom. He tried to choke her with zip ties then strangled her.

He dismembered her body in the bathtub with a saw he found in the garage.

Workers from a dump found Jessica's torso. Mindy Sigg told police some of Jessica's remains were in the crawl space of her house.

An autopsy determined that the cause of death was asphyxiation secondary to suffocation or strangulation.

Anissa Jones, a sexual assault nurse examiner, testified that she examined Jessica's torso and determined there was evidence that she had been bruised, cut and sexually assaulted.

The lead police detective in the case testified Wednesday that DNA evidence linked Sigg to the clothing of the jogger who was assaulted and to the clothing and body of Jessica.

Det. Luis Lopez testified that a wooden cross was found along with Jessica's torso. DNA on the body was linked to evidence found on clothing of the jogger.

Lopez said evidence found in Jessica's backpack also pointed to Sigg. The backpack contained Jessica's prescription glasses and clothing — her tie-dye T-shirt, her pants, panties and boots with pom poms.

After authorities released photos of the wooden cross, a neighbor of Austin Sigg called police, Lopez testified. The neighbor said Sigg wore such a cross, and she said he was taking mortuary science classes and was interested in bodies.

Two agents obtained DNA samples from Sigg, and they were eventually matched to DNA found on the jogger's clothing, Jessica's body and Jessica's panties.

Jessica was kidnapped on her way to school Oct. 5, 2012. Her body was found five days later in a field in Arvada. Authorities say Sigg confessed to the kidnapping and slaying. He was arrested Oct. 23.